Late Rally Falls Short in Series Finale at Emory

(ATLANTA, Ga.) - The Carnegie Mellon University softball team had a late-game rally fall short in a 2-1 loss to Emory University in the series finale of the University Athletic Association (UAA) season-opening weekend. The Tartans are now 11-8 overall and 2-2 in the UAA with the Eagles sitting at 12-8 and 2-2.

Emory got a run in the bottom of the first inning on a single up the middle by the fourth hitter before sophomore Amanda Smith (New Cumberland, Pa. / Trinity) retired the next two batters to strand two runners on base.

The Eagles tacked on another run in the bottom of the third inning on two hits, including a lead-off double and another single up the middle.

With two outs in the top of the sixth inning, freshman Libby Eichberger (Aurora, Ill. / Metea Valley) tripled to right center and then scored on a double down the right field line by senior Megan Hu (Katy, Texas / Seven Lakes) to cut the deficit in half. 

In the Eagles' half of the inning, the home team started with two straight singles to chase Smith from the circle. Senior Scotty McGee (Huntington Beach, Calif. / Huntington Beach) entered in relief and after the bases got loaded following a fielding error, McGee was able to coax Tyler Miller into a fly ball to right field. On the attempted tag-up play, right fielder Kiera Boucher (Ridgewood, N.J. / Ridgewood) threw out Natalie Costero at the plate for the second out. McGee then struck out Abby Sekoff to end the inning with two runners on base.

The Tartans put two runners on base in the top of the seventh inning with singles by junior Emily Finger (Aurora, Ill. / Metea Valley) and Boucher but were unable to get them around for the tying or potential winning runs as senior Mattie Ryan was able to get a flyout and pop out to end the game.

For the series, sophomore Erika Heffernen (Moorestown, N.J. / Moorestown) had six hits including a triple while Eichberger had seven hits with two triples and a double.

Carnegie Mellon is set to host Oberlin College in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday, March 30, beginning at 3:00 p.m.